Lenni George

Doctoral researcher

Email:: lennigeorge@hotmail.com

Lenni is a half English and half Greek cypriot from Cyprus, who mainly grew up in the UK and worked in the Midlands. Before leaving to work for the United Nations on a range of issues supporting the Secretary General's reform process. After leaving her post in the UN, she established her own company; The Development Alchemists providing training, coaching and facilitation services for UN agencies both in the field and HQ settings.

Lenni's company also works with the private sector and with global companies such as Disney, Xerox and very small start-ups in developing economies. Realising that it was time to forge stronger links between her passion for learning and academia, the Business School at BCU seemed to have a similar belief in strong links between the workplace and learning, so it was an obvious choice as the base for her PhD research.

Research

The alleviation of poverty is one of the greatest challenges for the international community of donors and of governments who manage and disperse billions of dollars in the name of International Development. (Kanbur, Sandler and Morrison 1999, Global Humanitarian Assistance 2013, Dfid, 2014). Many of the interventions funded by the International Community are described as ‘capacity development’, a vague and catch-all description of the process of increasing self-reliance, sustainability and choice (Eade 1997, UNDP 2009, World Bank 2005, OECD 2011,).

Historically, governments and then non-governmental organisations implemented international development projects on behalf of donors. With the effectiveness of aid and the mechanisms used to administer it under increasing criticism, (Chang 2003, Moyo 2009, Sowell 2015) the international community are examining a broader range of actors, including the private sector and the ‘new kids on the block’,Social Enterprises, to participate in the alleviation of poverty.

For social enterprises to become successful in addressing the social or environment needs for which they are established, the whole eco-system needs to function and therefore the development of capacity needs to be addressed. But what actually is capacity development? Who provides it and how does it work? Do the ‘beneficiaries’ of capacity development have any say in the process?

The research objectives are:

To critically assess the capacity development needs of social enterprises from the perspectives of social enterprise owners/managers.
To examine the recognition of the phenomenon ‘social enterprise’, in policies and institutions at a national level. (macro level).
To analyse the provision of services available to social enterprises at the meso level.

In undertaking this research, Lenni seeks to understand what are the favourable conditions for social enterprises to flourish and enable them to play a role in the amelioration of social issues and contribute to poverty alleviation in their communities.

Supervisors: Mark Gilman, Martin Reynolds

Lenni George

Doctoral researcher

Research

Publications

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